no you may be completely different to mr. police four countries claim a former american marine who's been charged in moscow with espionage citizen speculation claims the man's being used as a bargaining chip. he faces up to twenty years plenty of time to be swapped that this was. retaliation or was revenge in some way by the russians. so this hour the french government hardens its stance against the yellow vests movement claiming is trying to bring about a coup comes as president marcos popularity rating hits record lows. also a massive cyber attack in germany sees the private data of hundreds of politicians and media figures leaked online some already pointing the blame at russia.

this is. the u.s. u.k. canada and island have all said a former u.s. marine charged in moscow with espionage is their citizen the man detained in the russian capital last week is already at the center of much media speculation and my colleague andrew farmer discussed the story with our correspondent in moscow and lunde. what more do we know then about this case andrew haven't we lately rather gotten used to hearing about russian spies being caught in america i can definitely come up with a few such stories from the past few years this case though is exactly the opposite an american national a former u.s. marine paul wieland was caught in moscow he was arrested in one of the city's most posh hotels but back when the news broke who would have thought that diplomats from

a total of four countries would end up going he's our guy so now we have the u.s. the u.k. canada and the latest country to make such a statement was our island however if we go back to canada poll brother couldn't even confirm whether he still had a canadian passport or not which does sound very strange but that's the way it is right now he's now in detention in moscow having been charged with espionage although his brother says that the only reason he went to russia was to attend a friend's wedding party the us ambassador had been given permission to see the suspect then so he did mr whelan's lawyer is seeking bail for his client for now we aren't really aware of any other details but journalists all around the world are talking about it and speculation is rife he faces up to twenty years in a russian jail deal of tasks plenty of time to be small to dispose of. what's

most likely as we'll as a pawn in russia just play to get back one of its spies after maria patino here in the united states in the rehab boots and do you believe the arrest of your brother was retaliation and was revenge in some way by the russians. as you've heard many are linking this case to the case of variability no who was arrested in the u.s. in july she eventually pleaded guilty to conspiring against the u.s. with a russian government official and at least another person without notifying the u.s. attorney general but the fact is that the charges that have been brought against paul whelan and maria butanol are completely different now to london to dispute and see the children and our correspondent there nasty we're hearing the poor will and

also is a british citizen must be in the reaction then in the u.k. it was actually the american embassy in moscow that had contacted their british counterparts to inform them of this arrest and this case we know that so far the foreign office has their spokesperson has said that quote staff have requested consular access to a british man detained in russia also the u.k. foreign secretary jeremy hunt has said that the u.k. is not liking the idea of individuals being used for political chess games opposition is very very clear individuals should not be used as pawns of diplomatic leverage we need to see what those challenges are against him to understand whether there is a case or not we're not ruling out any theories tool at this stage as to why this might have happened this case of paul whelan comes on the heels of the biggest scandals in twenty eighteen between russia and the u.k. involving a double agent being poisoned in seoul's very in the u.k.

back in march leading to diplomatic expulsions leading to one of the biggest droughts between the u.k. and russia and russia in recent years so whether or not this one is again going to add more fuel to the fire and exactly how much this scandal blows up of course remains to be seen in the days to come. a french government spokesperson has accused the yellow vest movement of trying to stage a coup the common signals are toughening stones from the authorities following weeks of violent protests dubiously has more well not a great start to the year for president machen with the latest polling showing that seventy five percent of french people responded that disapprove of the president that's despite the concessions he's tried giving the yellow vests movement over the last few weeks and that comes as his cabinet met for the first time on friday since the start of the new year yellow vest movement something on their plate to discuss

and afterwards the presidential spokesperson discussed at the l a best movement describing them as agitators who wanted to overthrow the government. says the announcements of the manual macro the yellow vests have become a movement of agitators who want insurrection and to overthrow the government moreover those who call for debate don't want to participate in the great national debate well that's not something the other best movement has long said many times when i've spoken to people out in the streets that that's one of their aims that they want to change the political system here in france and that one way of doing that could be to overthrow the government those protests now have been engulfed in france since november seventeenth and some cities have seen the worst rioting in a whole of a century as a result of that and it looks like this movement is set to continue into two thousand and nineteen with the so-called act eight planned for saturday with

a number of demonstrations already been notified to say that they will take place and many more expected to be notified at the very last minute on saturday now it also comes as an open letter was penned to president back on signs from angry france crew. just sizing the president is saying that he just hadn't listened to the movement let's have a look at an exit from that letter bridge will turn into hatred if you and your companions keep seeing people as rubble consider them and think they mean nothing and it's not just the yellow vests or the causing much corn ahead dick it's also been announced that his head of communications is to step down from his post now this is for him he's credited as being the person who shaped the presidential campaign that went on to win in style back in two thousand and seventeen and he's been a long term confidant of the president around him for about two and

a half years he's not the only person from the backroom staff quit and of course on top of that we've seen a number of resignations from the cabinet team including the interior minister back in october that was a clue and also the interior minister nicolas though who resigned as well as some of the other cabinet members only iran in two thousand and eighteen so while president back on might have been hoping to sweat some of that discord from two thousand and eighteen under the carpet it looks like two thousand and nineteen could be the same. with the partial u.s. government shutdown close to entering its third week now congressional leaders arrive in the white house for crunch talks a lot of democrats put forward legislation designed and they still might but that doesn't include funding for a border war that's prompted donald trump to claim he'll veto the bill to go live to the mall but he joins us live from new york any sign at all there to an end to

this political gridlock. well we've just heard from chuck schumer saying that congressional democrats would have no problem keeping the government shutdown for months if necessary however donald trump is sticking to his guns and calling for a border wall he did send a letter to members of congress so it seems it's donald trump versus nancy pelosi with trump wanting the wall and congressional democrats adamant that he won't get it let's reveal. to you all isn't in morality it's not who we are as a nation and this is not along between mexico and the united states that the president is creating here it's a wall between reality and his constituents his supporters i have never had so much support as i have in the latest week over my stance for border security for border control and for frankly the wall or the barrier.

now it's a new year and a new congress has just been sworn in on capitol hill at this point the democrats control the u.s. house of representatives and we've heard some calls to begin impeachment proceedings against the president some democrats want to jump start pietschmann charges impeachment proceedings we actually heard from one representative who used some rather colorful language to advocate impeaching donald trump let's review bullies don't win and baby don't because we're going to go in there we're going to use the mother. now nancy pelosi didn't use such colorful words but she herself as head of the u.s. house of representatives the speaker of the u.s. house she said that she would be open to impeaching trump as well this is nancy pelosi. who should be impeaching for a political reason and we should avoid it pietschmann for political reasons.

so at this point the us federal government has been shut down for fourteen days and we've got calls for impeachment coming from the democratic party meanwhile donald trump is sticking to his guns calling for a wall with a big section of the country supporting him once again the words on capitol hill and in washington d.c. seems to be a gridlock everybody wants to impeach it seems many things killable from with the latest from new york. investigations underway in germany into a massive cyber attack we slid to the personal data of hundreds of german politicians and media figures being leaked online more the probe is in its early stages some german media outlets already claim to know who's to blame the trove of pics of the story. but german press are running hard with this story on the data of hundreds of politicians and includes members of the cabinet here in germany

chancellor angela merkel herself. the president of germany frank fall to steinmeyer among many many others but it's not just politicians that have been the victim of this this data breach also comedian younes bottom and and rapper mark terry are also caught up in this now because if there is talk of hacking and data breaches the knives immediately come out for russia and that is what's happened in a lot of the articles we've seen here so far what we do know about the data that had been hacked into is that it's being called non highly sensitive data it includes things from the politicians this is like job applications a party memos and lists of party members now a spokesperson for the german government said an investigation is underway into this hack even is the young the federal government is taking this very seriously the only thing we can say about the hack attack now is that we're working on that the thirty's are working very hard to understand what happened leaks like these

have to be handled with great care figures fake information can be propagated however the government can say that now sensitive political data was published so far no official claims that russia was behind this and no evidence presented to that end but this isn't the first time that we've see a big media campaign in germany pointing the finger of blame at russia when it comes to online shenanigans before the twenty seventeen elections the papers were rife with how were the russians going to interfere with our elections post the twenty seventeen elections there was a lot more navel gazing article saying why didn't russia try and hack or interfere in these elections as we heard from the spokesman person from the government there this investigation ongoing we'll be looking into this as it develops. let's go live now to the german city of hanover and we speak to a political commentator. good evening to you sir we heard it there the media has been very quick to blame russia the investigation has only just begun why is russia

the first port of call when it comes to blind. well and i was rather pleased to be the first lane where everything that happens but it doesn't make any set because when we sum up the text there is nobody really got hurt and secondly russia i cannot imagine not any real russia or anything russia forget all of this general i say i will quiet. a little bit into another direction where you ask a question cui bono and if you look back a very powerful mikaelian last year you have a bunch of people who want to get rid of their freedom of speech which is generally granted by the bill of rights and you need some sort of scandal to get the politicians to make a new lot or permanent supervision of the for example what they wanted and the floaters are following the left so if you're

a russia it is always the same as the true people behind it are or have to be investigated in a totally other direction in this modern political climate where everybody does blame russia first it seems although we never seem to get any proof of wrong doing in terms of hacking or interfering or meddling whatever you want to call it is that not a climate that might encourage some governments and there are many that are well developed enough out there have the technology to to hack we do not encourage a few of them to think well let's just do it ourselves and we can blame it on russia never know pretty much believe it. well i think except you go your suspicion too sir except you go right to their option and there are even the there are four internet giants who have the technologies nearly everybody has got the tighten up technology and perception of these information are pretty easy to get for who want it in the internet now i mean this is another person especially where you quince or

. is has the star media so there must be high interest behind it and certainly not russia because their leader would react. on a kind of russian one particular journey so the direction is continuity in an hour where it's a it's interesting to know who did carry this out what do you think will get a proper investigation and get an answer no of course they want to blame russia are they they will as all scandals they will they want to come up with any groups so they just want to use it politically and we will see whether they can keep this distance and get their internet censorship or whether they just whether this as so many like this food and every other of who'll. go apologies again against arsenal among those targeted politicians journalists media

figures why why would anybody want their data. well i think no reason i don't see any way you can why this should be a problem of people who should not only want to be seen as that they're more just so and. they have nothing to hide and to change and even a gross at the moment you say yes so i don't see the thing is more or less. the stand or will they turn out as to be done or a scandal that allows the politicians to learn take away more rights from the german occupation this is a direction we have to oversee some suggestion that the alternative for germany party wasn't targeted you can confirm that if that's the case why do you think that would be worse initially. but if this were. a jar as we normally call. it would

be to overblown russian or or know somebody from there you know where else it would be useful for the same group uses for their purposes i could to speak to appreciate your thoughts political commentator i can harm your work our. tech giant apple has accused donald trump of hurting its business in china with the trade war that he's waging as beijing u.s. stock markets have been a sea of red after apple issued a profit warning for the first time in sixteen years the president though he's on carbon insists that his tariffs are actually helping america with all the details his than a bushel. what happened wall street's darling the world's first ever truly in dollar firm just months after that historic milestone the i pad make issues the canary in the mine shaft the most nail biting announcement the chilling profit

warning the first official public admission that a company's to announce bad news within minutes of the new york markets opening on thursday apple hey marriage to sixty four billion dollars of its value enough to replace every i phone cracked screen in the world investors now want the head of apple boss tim cook all right so you're saying that perfectly. but cook blame someone else trumps trade war with china we believe the economic environment in china has been further impacted by a rise in trade tensions with the united states of the donald slapped painful tariffs on imports from the communist superpower beijing swung back imposing or proposing tolls on most american imports from all i macs to cause so our pools not the only us multinational like on punning the trade crossfire between the world's top two economies but the donald remain strangely cool in fact he's glowing the

united states treasury has taken in many billions of dollars from the tariffs which are going china and other countries that have not treated us fairly in the meantime we're doing well in various trade negotiations currently going on at some point this had to be done just one day off the apples profit warning sends shock waves through us think he tweets his tariff hikes bring in billions to the u.s. purse so the trade was hurting or hoping there's definitely bringing us some money but it's not bringing them from foreign governments it's bringing it and from american businesses and american consumers which is to say that it is a tax and taxes are not good for economic growth i mean he began this whole trade conflict same. trade wars are great they're easy to win and they will boost growth so everything the opposite has happened and we haven't won all's done is increase television from around the world and now we've seen how it's profoundly affecting

even tech companies as you could see from apple's sales in china this is a direct consequence of the trade wars and it's not just china this fall the burden of trump's policies in twenty eight teen the president's tariffs have also hurt some u.s. allies to get the if explains. two thousand and eighteen hasn't been easy in america no it was a rough rough year friends came friends went more went really then came and those that weren't friends in the first place well it lost all fear. with money going to a bullying enemy yesterday saddam was in front of us today it's trump there is no difference we must resist and we. have to see the criminal supremacist of this move those who govern the united states. countries shouldn't just point fingers at the others but ignore their own mistakes this shouldn't be the torchlight doing nothing

but exposing the weakness of others while ignoring their own come now no surprise those countries weren't all that buddy buddy with america to begin with but us allies friends that's another story without a happy ending take trumps little vendetta against iran where he top nuclear deal with it deal that took his allies europeans years of efforts negotiations sweat and nerves trump is now threatening his own allies if they there break his blockade against iran no one trades with iran he insists that the europeans are playing ball. with the european commission we have the duty to protect european companies so we know me to act we believe that it is and it has to be up to. the europeans and this

case to decide with home to trade with. take also trumps advice to germany lately sort of bullying we with regards to russian gas pipelines. germany will become totally dependent on russian energy if it does not immediately change course nothing complicated here in america cannot compete with much cheaper russian gas but if you get rid of russian gas pipelines europeans trump's allies will have no choice but to overpay for american gas well it's better than taking advantage of your friends problem is germany isn't that stupid we can't rely on the superpower of the united states neither is nato immune to trump's charms huge smalling out this year between turkey and the

states and current wanting to buy russian missiles and trump trump didn't like that one bit we have had serious concerns about turkey's potential acquisition of the ass four hundred system so this is turkey's decision we made a deal on the s four hundred that file is closed it is closed business trumps gung ho attitude his speak first think later and then change your mind style has. pushed away friends or shove them away made enemies it's getting harder to bully co worse and stronger on your way around shining example as what's happening at the un or rather what isn't happening in the us getting its way q more threats the american people pay twenty two percent of the un budget more than the next three highs donor countries combined in spite of this generosity the rest of

the un booted with us only thirty one percent of the time this is not an acceptable return on our investment president trump wants to ensure that our foreign assistance dollars always serve american interests. america's erratic behavior its tantrums costing it power influence friends even the famous bromance with french president mark crown is ending but it's more than that it's a new global trend where people nations are pretty sick of being ordered about told what to do it regardless of what they think tired of trump tweeting about them two thousand and eighteen was hard on america trump made it so. the u.k. army is appealing to snowflakes and selfie addicts and its latest attempt to swell

its ranks but just how many would be willing to swap screen time for the front line is a quick look at the army's t.v. at. this. news useless. the idea behind your army needs campaign is that every witness can be turned into a positive for example a snowflake's compassion previews for the binge game is drive could make all the difference would have great focus of a millennial says their self belief this is how the u.k. defense ministry explained its motive the new campaign is the third execution of the this is belonging series showing how the army finds potential beyond gens ed and millennial stereotypes and identifying the essential skills needed in new army recruits such as compassion self belief and focus we went out on to the streets of

london to find out what people think of the army's new recruitment efforts. but i think the appeal to younger generation i think they're all offensive to people feels like a different message the really bad connotation to put in the military in a bit of a strange light this would be quite rude doesn't make any sense. because the deference on these it doesn't actually mean anything to do so believe it i don't know it's appealing to the same still to people it's the people who might always have thought about the army been for them. the latest thriller on netflix bird box has become a huge hit with forty five million views within just the first week although it has also become a health risk for some viewers. it's a surprisingly empathy to take some of the feeling or see if you're going on the trip. never take off your wife. will make it.

all for more. all. the supportive family appreciate the low point go have just one wish for twenty nine t. and years that you north end up in the hospital due to me. i figured that only a short i could do it in real life. wonder if you. have

been trained by a life or a face. that runs things up to join me in half an hour for the latest.

join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest on the world of politics small business i'm show business i'll see you then. greetings and salutation. welcome ladies and gentlemen to the big two thousand and nineteen. feels good to be back with you as we venture forth into a brand new year of politics and prose and just what will this this new year bring us well only the prognosticators and the soothsayers and the media mockingbirds know for sure which brings us to our good friends at n.b.c. and m s n b c who were put on blast this week in.